WHAT DOES U.S.

GOVERNMENT RESEARCH
TELL US ABOUT BPA?
FFDDAA NNTT In the last several years, federal government scientists have been conducting in-depth
PP studies to answer key questions about the safety of BPA. To date, more than 20 of
these studies have been published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.

SAFE
Taken together, the results of these studies provide strong support for the safety of
BPA. Based on the government research, along with results from other studies, the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently answered the question:
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“Is BPA safe?” with a clear answer – “Yes.”

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Key findings from the research are briefly summarized below:

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1. Consumer exposure to BPA is extremely low.

2. BPA is rapidly eliminated from the body.

3. No risk of health effects at typical consumer exposure levels.

1. CONSUMER EXPOSURE TO BPA IS EXTREMELY LOW.

SAFE EXPOSURE LIMIT

2.4
CONSUMER micrograms
EXPOSURE
1,000x
BELOW SAFE
LIMIT

TYPICAL CONSUMER EXPOSURE BASED ON CDC DATA, A PERSON WOULD HAVE TO

TO BPA IS 1,000 TIMES BELOW TYPICAL HUMAN EXPOSURE TO INGEST 1,300 POUNDS OF FOOD
THE SAFE LIMIT established by BPA IS 2.4 MICROGRAMS A DAY. AND BEVERAGES in contact with
government scientists, including for polycarbonate plastic
To put this in perspective, if a small mint
children, adults and every day to exceed the safe limit.
was broken into pieces that each
pregnant women.
weighed 2.4 micrograms, it would take
240 years to consume all of the 87,500
pieces at a rate of one piece per day.
Supporting data: Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
CDC Biomonitoring Summary – Bisphenol A
 2. BPA IS RAPIDLY ELIMINATED FROM THE BODY.
When ingested, most of the BPA that is taken in is converted through metabolism in the intestine to a
substance with no known biological activity. Any trace amount of BPA that remains is converted in the
liver to the same inactive substance before entering the bloodstream.

24
24 NO BPA
DETECTED

WITHIN 24 HOURS, the inactive In clinical studies when volunteers A series of studies in animal models
substance is eliminated were exposed to much higher levels of conducted in the FDA laboratory
through urine. BPA than typical, NO BPA confirm that ALL AGES - ADULTS,
COULD BE DETECTED IN THE CHILDREN AND INFANTS -
BLOODSTREAM. CAN EFFICIENTLY METABOLIZE
AND ELIMINATE BPA.
Key Sources:
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-funded study, conducted by scientists at the FDA conducted study on BPA metabolism in infant and adult rats (Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 2010)
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), FDA and CDC on BPA metabolism (Toxicological Sciences, 2011) FDA conducted study on BPA metabolism in monkeys (Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, 2010)

3. NO RISK OF HEALTH EFFECTS AT TYPICAL CONSUMER

EXPOSURE LEVELS. Government researchers recently published results from what
may be the largest-scale toxicity study ever conducted on BPA.

SAFE EXPOSURE LIMIT

CONSUMER
EXPOSURE
1,000x
BELOW SAFE
LIMIT

NO REPRODUCTIVE OR Because BPA is rapidly metabolized IT IS VERY UNLIKELY THAT BPA

DEVELOPMENTAL HEALTH and eliminated by the body, IT IS could act as an estrogenic substance in
VERY UNLIKELY THAT BPA COULD the human body at these low levels.
EFFECTS WERE FOUND at doses
even remotely close to typical consumer CAUSE HEALTH EFFECTS
exposure levels. AT REAL-LIFE EXPOSURE LEVELS.

Key Sources:
FDA conducted study assessing potential for adverse health effects arising from BPA exposure (Toxicological Sciences, 2014) Both studies were funded by the U.S. National Toxicology Program (NTP).
FDA conducted study assessing BPA estrogenicity (Toxicological Sciences, 2014)